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Stray Surpassed God of War as The Highest-Rated Game On Steam In 2022

Aaron Olive

Member
These types of games usually have extremely positive reviews because the name and cover of the game speaks for itself. Look at Power Wash Simulator, same thing. If you want to Power Wash a house, you will like Power Wash Simulator. If you like cats, you will like Stray. That is it. I have watched many streamers play this game and that is literally the only selling point. You play as a cat. If you replace the cat with a normal person or an FPS POV, it is very mid. I am not a cat person, so this has 0 appeal to me.
I’m not a cat person either, but this beats rage quitting that popular shooter genre game because you got back spawned and you was on a streak. 😈
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
There is no downgrading of the FREE PRODUCT in the overall rating that steam gives it, a PRODUCT WAS FREE gets equal weight in the overall average despite the fact that it's PAID.

As a consumer I’m smart enough to take that into account when READING what people say about the game itself.
Only a fucking dolt looks at the overall positivity and bases a purchase on that.

READ what’s written! That’s the entire point of written user reviews. Not everyone who received a product for free slaps a thumbs up on it either. Take the tinfoil hat off.
 

jaysius

Banned
As a consumer I’m smart enough to take that into account when READING what people say about the game itself.
Only a fucking dolt looks at the overall positivity and bases a purchase on that.

READ what’s written! That’s the entire point of written user reviews. Not everyone who received a product for free slaps a thumbs up on it either. Take the tinfoil hat off.
Sure, I'm smart enough you're smart enough, MOST consumers just see OVERWHEMLINGLY POSITIVE and don't read any of the reviews so all the issues with the fake reviews and paid reviews don't get picked up, and the game makes more money, the system tricks dumb people, the internet is full of dumb people and mostly stupid kids that leave reviews because their senpai streamer/tuber told them to.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Sure, I'm smart enough you're smart enough, MOST consumers just see OVERWHEMLINGLY POSITIVE and don't read any of the reviews so all the issues with the fake reviews and paid reviews don't get picked up, and the game makes more money, the system tricks dumb people, the internet is full of dumb people and mostly stupid kids that leave reviews because their senpai streamer/tuber told them to.

I get what you’re saying and I agree with your stance in regards to most consumers. But I think most PC players are above the average consumer, and will do the research.
 

rofif

Banned
It's a goo 7 game but it's terribly boring lateron and platforming does not exist.
I've seen reviewers saying the game got a lot of platforming. WHAT FUCKING PLATFORMING ?!
you press prompted x to do animation
 

Guilty_AI

Member
There is no downgrading of the FREE PRODUCT in the overall rating that steam gives it, a PRODUCT WAS FREE gets equal weight in the overall average despite the fact that it's PAID.
Products received for free, through gifts or through keys don't coun't towards the final score. Has been that way for years.
Steam took these measures precisely to avoid fake reviews.
 

jaysius

Banned
It's a goo 7 game but it's terribly boring lateron and platforming does not exist.
I've seen reviewers saying the game got a lot of platforming. WHAT FUCKING PLATFORMING ?!
you press prompted x to do animation
Yea you can NEVER fail any jumps, basically you're just quickly scanning the environment for a jump. There's not much gameplay here, it's more of a fun ride than anything, with a meh story.

I'd even argue it's not a cat game since you're not really doing cat things, you're forcefully guided by the linear world and the AI on your back.
 

jaysius

Banned
Steam reviews on this that are QUALITY that prove my point that Steam Reviews are a shitty metric, all these are POSTIIVE REVIEWS, not FREE PRODUCT:


This one alone is posted MULTIPLE TIMES
Posted: 24 July

⣿⠟⠛⠛⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⢋⣩⣉⢻⣿⣿
⣿⠀⣿⣶⣕⣈⠹⠿⠿⠿⠿⠟⠛⣛⢋⣰⠣⣿⣿⠀⣿⣿
⣿⡀⣿⣿⣿⣧⢻⣿⣶⣷⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠶⡝⠀⣿⣿
⣿⣷⠘⣿⣿⣿⢏⣿⣿⣋⣀⣈⣻⣿⣿⣷⣤⣤⣿⡐⢿⣿
⣿⣿⣆⢩⣝⣫⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠿⠿⠦⠀⠸⠿⣻⣿⡄⢻
⣿⣿⣿⡄⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⣼
⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⣰⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⠏⢰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿



Posted: 25 July

I played
I meowed
I knocked over paint cans
I cried

10/10

This game needs a sequel. I Just finished playing and I'm sad it doesn't keep going. It was so good!
you are a cat and you are leading a revolution.
this is the future liberals want.
My cat loves to watch me while i play this
     />  フ
     |  _  _ l
     /` ミ_xノ
     /     |
    /  ヽ   ノ
    │  | | |
 / ̄|   | | |
 | ( ̄ヽ__ヽ_)__)
 \二つ
You play as a cat.
You can purr.
You can scratch walls and carpets.
You can put your head into paperbags.
You can purr.

What else do you need in this crazy world right now...

Thanks for this game <3
This game have a dedicated Meow button.

GOTY
you can trip people and knock stuff off of shelfs.
10/10
I'm a simple person. When I saw the cat, I bought the game.
pspspspspsppspspspsps
Oh its a cat

You can play as a cat

Shut up and take my money


I could go on for hours on this, Steam Reviews are a SHITTY METRIC.
 
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Guilty_AI

Member
I could go on for hours on this, Steam Reviews are a SHITTY METRIC.
They're great as an initial assessment, to see if the game has any glaring problems.

To put in another way, they're great to review the game as a product.

I think its fair to say Elden Ring is a much better game than Power Wash simulator or Stray, yet it received lower reviews than these because as a product it had much more problems.
 

jaysius

Banned
They're great as an initial assessment, to see if the game has any glaring problems.

To put in another way, they're great to review the game as a product.

I think its fair to say Elden Ring is a much better game than Power Wash simulator or Stray, yet it received lower reviews than these because as a product it had much more problems.
My post proved the value of the reviews, meme reviews, single word incoherent reviews, all this trash adds to the final weight as all of these were supposedly paid for keys. Those reviews aren't of any value at all, they're purely joke reviews, yet they hold as much weight on the metric as long winded in-depth reviews, this is the issue, Steam Reviews are far too easy to game.

Some of the other positive reviews I didn't post are actually negative but they've chosen to call it positive.

There's NO VALUE to 85% of the Steam Reviews.
 
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Guilty_AI

Member
My post proved the value of the reviews, meme reviews, single word incoherent reviews, all this trash adds to the final weight as all of these were supposedly paid for keys. Those reviews aren't of any value at all, they're purely joke reviews, yet they hold as much weight on the metric as long winded in-depth reviews, this is the issue, Steam Reviews are far too easy to game.

Some of the other positive reviews I didn't post are actually negative but they've chosen to call it positive.

There's NO VALUE to 85% of the Steam Reviews.
Any game on steam has joke reviews. They're done by people who want to leave a positive review but don't know what to write. Whats written in these cases doesn't matter, what matters is the amount of players who think the game deserves a thumbs up.
 

jaysius

Banned
Any game on steam has joke reviews. They're done by people who want to leave a positive review but don't know what to write. Whats written in these cases doesn't matter, what matters is the amount of players who think the game deserves a thumbs up.
Not always, they're there because people want to raise their personal metric of how many stream reviews they've "written" even though most of them are worthless.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Here is the full list. The weighting seems questionable at the lower review counts. Comparing that to steam top concurrent game counts makes for pretty amusing assumptions.
damn, most of the top rated games on that list are amazing!
this is far more accurate than that other list
 

Guilty_AI

Member
Not always, they're there because people want to raise their personal metric of how many stream reviews they've "written" even though most of them are worthless.
And there are loads of reviewers out there who see reviewing as a job and generally don't give a crap about the game they're reviewing.
No system is perfect, but out of all user review systems out there, steam reviews is still the best, unless you could point me to a better one?
 

jaysius

Banned
And there are loads of reviewers out there who see reviewing as a job and generally don't give a crap about the game they're reviewing.
No system is perfect, but out of all user review systems out there, steam reviews is still the best, unless you could point me to a better one?
Nobody has to point you to a better one I'm talking about THIS ONE, I've proven my point, Steam Reviews are a shitty metric that are almost completely meaningless.

You're using faulty logic to try and say your opinion is correct by saying it's the ONLY opinion.
 
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MiguelItUp

Member
To each their own for sure, that's all it boils down to. But I can't help but feel like Stray is kind of a meme game. Because cats, etc. Watching the gameplay, it more so just kind of looks like a game that focuses on story and everything else, but gameplay comes after. So, it makes for a very chill and immersive experience I'm sure. So if that's what you're into, go ahead. But me? Nah, not for me.

Between it being the highest rated game on Steam, and then having a higher user score than Elden Ring (I think on Metacritic? Which doesn't matter much anyway, but still) seems a bit ridiculous. Definitely doesn't help the meme game thing, lol.

If this tells us anything, it's that any platform that allows users to review should be taken with a grain of salt, as always.
 
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Guilty_AI

Member
Nobody has to point you to a better one I'm talking about THIS ONE, I've proven my point, Steam Reviews are a shitty metric that are almost completely meaningless.
The problem is you could use similar logic to prove any metric for game review is shitty, because there are no perfect metrics out there for this.

Thus you're the one using faulty logic. Its like trying to argue an engine is shitty because it isn't 100% efficient.
 
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Hugare

Member
I'm almost finishing it, and it's pretty great, but yeah, internet hype happened here

It deserves all the success, tho. For a first game of the studio, its incredible. They nailed so much.

Much better than something like Kena, imo.

People complaining about the lack of "real gameplay" can fuck right off. This is a point and click adventure mostly. And it has more gameplay than "walking sims".
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
It's a goo 7 game but it's terribly boring lateron and platforming does not exist.
I've seen reviewers saying the game got a lot of platforming. WHAT FUCKING PLATFORMING ?!
you press prompted x to do animation
Dude reviewers have fucking lost it. It's been like this for years. I was calling out their dementia way back in 2014-2016. They have only gotten worse since.

Stray's metacritic is 84. The Last Guardian's is 82. Critics love these basic as fuck games and any game that has any minor flaws like TLG's camera issues is treated like AIDS. They dont review games based on gameplay. They ignore ambitious design. They review it based on flaws, bugs and whatever else agenda they are promoting at the time.

I have no idea how Stray has a better metacritic average than Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last Guardian, Detroit, and Days Gone. These people are deranged.
 

rofif

Banned
Dude reviewers have fucking lost it. It's been like this for years. I was calling out their dementia way back in 2014-2016. They have only gotten worse since.

Stray's metacritic is 84. The Last Guardian's is 82. Critics love these basic as fuck games and any game that has any minor flaws like TLG's camera issues is treated like AIDS. They dont review games based on gameplay. They ignore ambitious design. They review it based on flaws, bugs and whatever else agenda they are promoting at the time.

I have no idea how Stray has a better metacritic average than Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last Guardian, Detroit, and Days Gone. These people are deranged.
fucking bless
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
PowerWash in third place with 98%

XD

Yah its a rather addictive game. I spend more than 20 hours into the game so far, currently at the tree house stage. Its just satisfying to do sweeping motions to wipe out the dirt neatly while using the right tools for the job. Some has wider range but weaker, useful for doing the initial wash, while other have smaller range but stronger, great for washing the stubborn dirt and graffiti. Some has long range nozzle, but it'll be useless if you're washing a small interior building. Its just therapeutic to transform a nasty dirty place into a sparkling clean environment.

This kind of simulation games gets dismissed on console because the experience tend to be lackluster due to clanky console controllers. It works very well on PC due to the dynamic control of the mouse that makes cleaning rather fun and easy. I tried it on Xbox Gamepass recently, and its pretty much a disaster, so I went back to playing on PC. This is something console players doesn't know as they have no experience playing on PC.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
I'm almost finishing it, and it's pretty great, but yeah, internet hype happened here

It deserves all the success, tho. For a first game of the studio, its incredible. They nailed so much.

Much better than something like Kena, imo.

People complaining about the lack of "real gameplay" can fuck right off. This is a point and click adventure mostly. And it has more gameplay than "walking sims".
Would you compare it to something like Samorost or Machinarium? Those games were all about clicking around and I found them to be quite good games.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
I have no idea how Stray has a better metacritic average than Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last Guardian, Detroit, and Days Gone. These people are deranged.
Days Gone is extremely forgettable and Death Stranding is extremely fucking divisive- Kojima titles don't exactly get such a polarizing reception so it's clear the man did SOMETHING wrong. I think Stray deserves higher review scores than those (and to be honest i don't exactly own the game, nor do i have any intention of buying it.)
 
Dude reviewers have fucking lost it. It's been like this for years. I was calling out their dementia way back in 2014-2016. They have only gotten worse since.

Stray's metacritic is 84. The Last Guardian's is 82. Critics love these basic as fuck games and any game that has any minor flaws like TLG's camera issues is treated like AIDS. They dont review games based on gameplay. They ignore ambitious design. They review it based on flaws, bugs and whatever else agenda they are promoting at the time.

I have no idea how Stray has a better metacritic average than Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last Guardian, Detroit, and Days Gone. These people are deranged.

I know why you are so bitter about this....

Domestic-cats-successfully-hunting-squirrels.jpg

squirrel GIF
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Here's my 2 cents - if you can find any aspect of a game that you feel is enjoyable and is unique to that game, it could be considered a good game. Stray may not have very indepth gameplay or interesting mechanics, but if you can get a lot of fun out of parading around as a cat- i'd say it's good for what it accomplishes. It did set off to accomplish basically being a point and click cat simulator. if you don't like it, you don't like it
I Have No Idea Shrug GIF
 
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Dude reviewers have fucking lost it. It's been like this for years. I was calling out their dementia way back in 2014-2016. They have only gotten worse since.

Stray's metacritic is 84. The Last Guardian's is 82. Critics love these basic as fuck games and any game that has any minor flaws like TLG's camera issues is treated like AIDS. They dont review games based on gameplay. They ignore ambitious design. They review it based on flaws, bugs and whatever else agenda they are promoting at the time.

I have no idea how Stray has a better metacritic average than Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last Guardian, Detroit, and Days Gone. These people are deranged.

Well Done Applause GIF by MOODMAN
 
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Guilty_AI

Member
Here's my 2 cents - if you can find any aspect of a game that you feel is enjoyable and is unique to that game, it could be considered a good game. Stray may not have very indepth gameplay or interesting mechanics, but if you can get a lot of fun out of parading around as a cat- i'd say it's good for what it accomplishes. It did set off to accomplish basically being a point and click cat simulator. if you don't like it, you don't like it
I Have No Idea Shrug GIF
Another factor is the price. A 30$ game has far more leeway to be a simpler experience than a 70$ title.

Its the main reason why i rarely pay more than 20 bucks for videogames, i can enjoy them better when i don't have to keep worrying about needing to get my 60$/70$ worth out of it.
 
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Hari Seldon

Member
My post proved the value of the reviews, meme reviews, single word incoherent reviews, all this trash adds to the final weight as all of these were supposedly paid for keys. Those reviews aren't of any value at all, they're purely joke reviews, yet they hold as much weight on the metric as long winded in-depth reviews, this is the issue, Steam Reviews are far too easy to game.

Some of the other positive reviews I didn't post are actually negative but they've chosen to call it positive.

There's NO VALUE to 85% of the Steam Reviews.
Steam reviews are the best reviews on the internet. Not for the meme games, but that is like 1% or less of all games. Most steam games are far too niche for mainstream coverage or even a gaf/reddit thread, and therefore the only resource is steam reviews.
 

Hugare

Member
Would you compare it to something like Samorost or Machinarium? Those games were all about clicking around and I found them to be quite good games.
Not really.

It's not nearly as obtuse as those in terms of puzzles. It's much more simplistic.

But it does a good job in making these puzzles just not simple enough in order to to make them feel satisfying

Exploration is great, and there are many interactions and sidequests that you find organically (there's no quest log of sorts in the game)

I recommend it a lot, specially for the price point. I think you will enjoy it.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Not really.

It's not nearly as obtuse as those in terms of puzzles. It's much more simplistic.

But it does a good job in making these puzzles just not simple enough in order to to make them feel satisfying

Exploration is great, and there are many interactions and sidequests that you find organically (there's no quest log of sorts in the game)

I recommend it a lot, specially for the price point. I think you will enjoy it.
Sounds great for a chill game, thanks bro.
 

bender

What time is it?
Yea you can NEVER fail any jumps, basically you're just quickly scanning the environment for a jump. There's not much gameplay here, it's more of a fun ride than anything, with a meh story.

I'd even argue it's not a cat game since you're not really doing cat things, you're forcefully guided by the linear world and the AI on your back.

In the first 10 minutes you:

-Abandoned by my friends
-Broke a fan
-Needlessly knocking over 7 or 8 paint cans
-Fucking up strangers rugs.
-Killed a robot

Sounds like a cat to me.

Would you compare it to something like Samorost or Machinarium? Those games were all about clicking around and I found them to be quite good games.

Stray has some adventure game elements but the solutions to puzzles are no where near as head-scratching as you'd see in more traditional point and click adventure games.
 
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It's surprising to me. A 4-hour game for 30 Bucks, getting rated this high on Steam. I think it's a really nice game with a cool setting and i love cats.
I'm just missing the "WHERE ARE MY 2000 HOURS WORTH OF CONTENT ???" crowd, that we see in the reviews for pretty much every other indie game out there.
 
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Aenima

Member
Just finished the game 1 hour ago, and the game was much better than i expected. Great experience. And has nothing to do about liking cats or not. The cat is just a vehicle to navigate the map where a cool story is being told.

Took me 8 hours to finish the game, with some side content left to do.
 
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